Single parent families, poverty and drugs ? new Social Rehabilitation Ministry Dale Butler could be forgiven for thinking all of Bermuda?s problems have been laid at his door.

The famously energetic minister admits even he initially found it exhausting and he worried he lacked a background in the ministry?s key areas when appointed by new Premier Ewart Brown late last year.

He credits good staff for helping him through and he points out the departments of Child and Family services, Financial Assistance, Court Services and National Drug Control had long been up and running before they were put together in his ministry.

?I am not overwhelmed as I initially was,? said Mr. Butler who is now enjoying the challenge. But the phone never stops ringing while the public also want personal sessions with him. ?We are seeing people at nine and ten o?clock and on Saturdays and Sunday.?

Now he is trying to limit his personal meetings with clients to scheduled Wednesday afternoon sessions. Most people call him about financial assistance ? hoping he would get them past the rules. ?People always think the minister can avoid the law or overrule an officer. ?But you can?t show favouritism because this guy happens to be my cousin.?

He is proud of his team which he says boasts a hundred percent success rate in ringing people back in an hour ? he knows because he checks.

And his staff keep their tabs on him ? providing him with a report card listing their expectations of him including that he be receptive to advice and committed. Mr. Butler applied for financial assistance himself to see how the process worked.

?I felt, having answered all the questions, the taxpayer should be happy we are guarding their money. As compared to ?You got a need? Here?s a cheque?. Yes, it?s tedious but we need to ensure fraud is kept to a minimum.?

Abuse was not as bad as people think, said Mr. Butler. ?I thought there might have been 2,000 people on financial assistance but it?s actually around 800 people ? I feel good about that.?

He is also buoyed with successes in foster care, drug counselling and ATI.

Financial assistance clients will be randomly surveyed about their experiences after complaints by the Coalition for the Protection of Children about how applicants were being treated by staff. ?We will publish those results.?

However a challenge by Coalition leader Sheelagh Cooper to shadow a client with a video camera though the system has been reluctantly turned down.

Mr. Butler said he was consulting with the Coalition for the Protection of children who have been harshly critical of they way welfare is run but he denied staff were under-trained.

He also refuted the Coalition?s claims people were forced off financial assistance if they were doing full-time study although it was closely monitored to make sure people were turning up for classes. ?We don?t cut people if they are in a legitimate programme. We challenged her to provide us with names and addresses and we would call those people in.

?Unfortunately a number of these cases there are big issues that can?t be resolved overnight.

?A young person struggling with three children who wants to go to college will have to find day care so we are looking at that ? providing some type of a voucher system so people desperate need will be able to have their kids in day care.?

With drugs the Ministry is concentrating on providing more beds for recovering addicts.

Mr. Butler said he is hoping to have the Middle Road, Southampton transitional living home ready within the next three months to help ease people back into living on their own while the next project is for 20 men and 20 women in Dockyard.

?We are hoping in the budget to provide assistance to Focus who have a massive facility in St. George?s which we are hoping can provide additional transitional living and work programmes.?

And new independent groups have been submitting drug treatment plans with one hoping to move into the old Fairhavens building. He said Bermuda?s drug problem ran deep.

?One of the first thing that hit me that I was not aware of was the amount of sexual abuse that exists in Bermuda that has led people to a life of drugs.

?They can?t deal with those experiences. It sounds like we need more community counsellors so people can get more counselling in advance.

?There are laws now where schools have to report abuse immediately and that is helping the situation. But these are people 30 or 40 years gone back.

?We always think it?s women but there are a number of men who were sexually abused by a relative.?